Authors Note: This was going to be part of a longer fic, but I discovered that either it wasn't going anywhere, or was going to be a long, drawn out thing that I just don't want to do. So, I decided to leave it with a little mystery/cliffie. Here it is. I hope you enjoy.

Nothing Important Happened Today

By Osiris-Ra

Her enthusiasm marred by a sudden pain she felt in her stomach, Ana decided going for a swim wouldn't be the best idea at this time. She'd been hurting there for awhile, she couldn't remember when it had begun, but it had always kind of been there, a sharp pain in her lower stomach. She was standing at the lapping edge of the beach, watching the water bob up and down, just missing her feet and the hem of her new skirt which became covered by washed up sand instead of water. There was a hypnotic feel to watching the water, coming up and down, and up and down, bringing more sand with it, more sea floor debris.

Something red washed away from her feet. It wasn't clear what it was at first. Ana thought it might be a fish or something. It looked like a little red blob of some dead fish. But when the waves washed up again, and surged back, she realized it was blood.

Oh, gross.

She looked closer. What was bleeding? There were no fish anywhere...looking down, she realized the blood was forming a thin stream from under her. She lifted up her skirt slightly, a surge a fear rising in her throat. It was coming from her. A strain of blood was streaming down her legs and ankles, pooling into the sand and being washed away by the water. Ana stepped back from the water in horror, but to her dismay, her footprints had little red blots in them. Walking backwards, she stumbled and fell. She sat there for a moment, feeling incredibly seasick all of a sudden. The waves of the shore seemed to be growing closer, lapping up stronger until they washed around her and after awhile, she was sitting in water.

She pulled up the skirt away from her legs. She'd never really liked the skirt anyway. It was such a bad color on her and made of some scratchy material. She was only wearing it because her jeans were in the wash. If the blood was coming from her, then the skirt was probably ruined and she could fulfill her secret wish of tossing the eyesore away. Hopefully her jeans were dry by now. It didn't even occur to her to look down at the blood again and consider it, because she was feeling so nauseas and dizzy and confused. When she finally did look, it was by accident.

There it was. A little red clot in the sand between her legs. A completely mortifying sight. She rose slowly, her legs shaking slightly, and leaned over to pick it up. A surge of energy and life came from the horrible little clotted thing. As she studied it, first with horror then curiosity, a thought came over her. The water can wash it away. There wasn't really anything she could do other than that. Somehow, she felt sorry to throw it away, something that still felt so alive and so living. But what could she do? She walked slowly towards the waves, going further and further in until the water bobbed above her knees. She put her cupped hands to the water, and let the clot become one with the water and float away. She watched it curiously for awhile, wondering at how the little thing had come to be. She was going to turn and go when she heard the distinct cry of a baby. She stared at the ocean, panic rising in her throat.

A boat was approaching a small object floating in the water. Where the clot had presumably washed off to, a naked baby was floating in the water, splashing and making a sort of gurgled scream. The boat, which was jet powered, zoomed close, and then slowed near the baby. Ana watched, with hope and then - without at first realizing it - sudden fury growing on her, as a man leaned over the rim of the boat and scooped up the child. Ana yelled at him, a yell which she knew he would hear, but which she also knew would prove useless in saving the baby.

Her baby.

A sick fear washed over her. Why had she thrown it away? Why hadn't she considered what she was really doing? She'd unintentionally
consigned her child to the sea, into the hands of a stranger. The man in the craft looked at her, cradling the child in his arms. He suddenly smiled at her, a crude, knowing smile, and retreated to an area of the boat. Ana's mind was racing. Without thinking as to what she was doing, she moved forward in the water and dove in.

The water was so cold, as it had been before, cold and constricting. She pumped her legs furiously, slashing her arms through the water unrelentingly, hoping each paddle would get her one stroke closer to the boat. When she came up for air, she scanned the water. The boat was gone. She could still hear the cries of the baby, resounding loud over the crashing of the waves. Hearing a loud scraping noise behind her, she turned in the water and came face to face with some ugly dark smoke thing. It hovered close to her face, glimmering from within with some electric light, and then swallowed her.

"Are you ok?"

Ana looked up. Jack was standing a ways behind her, staring curiously. Ana had been keeled over for a little while. Now she looked a bit green. Jack came closer.

"Ana?"

She rose, queasily regaining her composure.

"Hey. I'm fine. Just got a little sick."

Jack looked to where she had been kneeling. His eyes scanned her face suspiciously.

"You haven't been feeling well?"

"I'm ok. I'll get over it. I probably ate a bad clam or something."

"Are you sure?"

Jack stared at her very hard. Ana shrugged.

"Yeah." She laughed slightly at seeing the doctors face scrunched up in curious concern.

"It's not important. Don't worry about it."